Chapter 57: Troubling Times

"What do you mean you know what happened to my father?" Alex asked.

"It has to do with what Tempus showed Saito." Louise replied.

"So the boy told you." Tempus said.

"Ummm...may we ask what's going on?" Mr. Hiraga asked.

"Oh, right." Louise said.

She cast a spell on Saito's family, allowing them to understand everyone in the room.

"Ah, hello." Tempus said, lowering her head towards him. "I am Tempus. Pleased to make your acquaintance. You have a fine son."

"Ummm...thanks?" He replied. "Are you the god he spoke about?"

"I've come to despise that description, but I suppose so." She replied.

"You're really pretty." Aisaka said.

"As are you, young one." The dragon replied, sitting back down.

As they spoke, Saito's mother noticed the two strange looking babies playing on a Tempus' back. She thought they were really cute, albeit a little bit strange looking.

"Those are very cute children." She said. "Whose are they?"

Before anyone could answer, Saito cleared his throat.

"Before any of that," He began. "Louise, tell them about what Tempus said."

"Oh, right." She said. "We believe your father is being manipulated by a very ancient person."

"Who?" Alex asked.

"His name was Eztli." She said. "Someone who had great control over their magic. They were capable of controlling the dead. They even managed to capture Soren and Tempus while they were weakened. She thinks he may still be alive."

"Is there any way of finding him?" Alex asked.

"Not that we know of." She replied. "Just watch for anything strange."

"Elder sister, we will have to investigate this." Sasha said.

"Yes." She replied.

She noticed Saito's bewildered family were still in the room.

"But it can wait." She continued. "Hello there! My name is Mariel."

"H-Hello. You're...an elf?" Aisaka asked, noticing Mariel and Sasha's ears.

"Indeed, I am." Mariel replied. "Afraid?"

"Not really." Aisaka said. "Just surprised."

"Crowded..." Sasha said under her breath, clearly bothered by the number of people around her.

"Cheer up, little sister." Mariel said. "Let's all eat together. We'll have fun."

As they were talking, Saito sat next to Soren and rubbed his fur. He thought about what he should say to him.

"You...should forgive her." He finally said.

The dragon stared at him, then back at the ground, clearly showing that it didn't want to forgive the white dragon that lay a few feet away.

"She's really hurt by the whole thing. Give her a chance." He continued. "Listen, I'd be mad too if my girlfriend did that to me, but you can only hold a grudge for so long."

The dragon seemed agitated at the suggestion that he and Tempus had such a relationship, which made Saito laugh a little. He sat silently for a little while longer before giving the dragon one last piece of what he thought.

"If she wanted to hurt you, she could have found better ways of doing it." He said as he got up. "She made a mistake, that's all."

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hiraga took a particular liking to Saito's children. Even though they had tails and vividly colored eyes, she hadn't pieced together whose they were. After a short while, however, she began to look at Saito, then back at the kids.

"Finally put it together, have you?" Sasha said, seemingly appearing behind her from nowhere.

"There's no way..." She said.

"Please try not to faint onto my floor." Sasha said.

"I-I'll be fine." She said, slowly sitting down on a chair.

"What's wrong honey?" Mr. Hiraga asked.

"You're a grandfather, Yuguro." She said, looking at the children that played at her feet.

"You mean...those…" He said blankly.

Suddenly, he picked the two babies, wearing a large smile on his face.

"Looks like they know now." Louise said to Saito.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I'm glad I didn't have to tell them."

As they watched the scene in front of them, they noticed Soren move closer to Tempus ever so slowly. He kept moving until he was right next to her, then exchanged a series of very low pitched 'words' with her. By the end, he seemed rather defeated, but allowed her to rest next to him.

"Looks like he got over it too." Saito said as the white monster rubbed the black one's fur.

"It's too bad we have on more enemy to worry about." Louise said.

"We don't have to worry just yet." He said. "We should probably go back to our country."

"Yeah." Louise replied. "We also have some affairs in Germania."

"What affairs?" Saito asked.

"There are several rooms that our mages can't open. We think they may have secrets regarding Germania's acquisition of your world's weapons." She replied.

"We can probably open them." He said. "I guess we should do that tomorrow."

"Let's go home now." Louise said. "Shion and Alex still have business here."

"Alright." He replied. "Hey everyone, we'll be going to our country now. We have some business to attend to."

"Saito, do you mind if we stay here?" Aisaka asked.

"Ask Sasha. It's her country." Saito said.

He picked up his kids, then looked at the two dragons that lay together.

"You guys can stay here if you want." He said.

"We're coming with you." Tempus said.

"If you insist." Saito said, hopping on Soren's back.

Louise hopped on Tempus's back. They waved goodbye to their family and friends, then seemingly disappeared as they traveled to their country. When they arrived, they immediately went into their palace. Their guards and maids were happy to see them, bowing very low.

"Don't bow. We told you that." Louise said.

They immediately looked up and went back to their stations, making sure to try and impress the King and Queen. Saito made his way into he and Louise's office, where a stack of papers sat on a large marble desk.

"What are all of these?" Saito asked.

"Letters from suitors." Louise said, burning them with her magic.

"They still think I'm dead?" Saito asked, looking at the ashes.

"No, they just believe that I'd leave you for them for some reason." She replied, sitting on a chair. "Do you believe he's still alive?"

"You mean Eztli?" Saito asked. "If Tempus has a hunch that he's alive, then yes."

"And here I thought we'd be able to live peacefully for a while." She sighed, lifting her two kids in the air.

"Im going to get some rest." Saito said after a few moments of silence.

"I'll remain awake for a while." She replied.

"Just remember to wake up early." He said as he walked out of the room. "We visit Germania tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. Get some rest." She said.

As soon as he got into his room and laid on his bed, he fell asleep, feeling unusually tired. After a few moments, he woke up in front of Lífþrasir, or rather, in front of her beach. He sat down in front of the water until eventually, the massive serpent rose out of the water.

"Hello there." It said, towering above him.

"Hi." Saito said rather quickly. "Listen, I have several question I hoped you could answer."

"I suppose I have nothing better to do than to answer them." She replied. "Ask away."

"Where exactly are you and Gandalfr sealed?" He asked.

"I recall telling you that before." She replied.

"No, I mean...is there a way I can go there?" He asked. "Maybe I could find a way to release you."

"You would an absurd amount of power to release me." She said. "Perhaps less to release my brother."

"I think Louise and I could do it." He said confidently.

"You can try if you want, but you will fail." She said. "I can guide you to where I'm held."

"Please do." Saito said.

"I have been sealed at the bottom of a sea. That's where I reside at the moment." She said. "That was about 6,000 years ago. They called the sea Östersjön. The East Sea."

"What a strange name." Saito thought to himself.

"When you finish your business in this world, I will allow you to find me." She said. "As for Gandalfr, he is sealed in a world with no life. The ground is of molten metal. He was in a cage at some point, but it seems you released him."

"Couldn't I just break your chains now and set you free?" He asked.

"Unlike Gandalfr's cage, which simply needed to be unlocked, my chains must be shattered." She explained. "The person who sealed Gandalfr intended to be able to access more of his power if need be, so he made it simpler to release him from his shackles."

"So were you not intended to be used?" Saito asked.

"I was, but because I contain more power than Gandalfr does, he didn't have a reason to access more of it. Especially since those who use my power end up dying from it." She said.

"Destroying chains that big could be troublesome, but I'll figure something out." He said with a warm smile. "I do have another question though. What happened to Eztli?"

She seemed agitated when hearing that name spoken, as if a feeling of disgust filled her body to the brim.

"He perished with his country." She said finally.

"Well...that's the thing. Tempus believes he's alive and...something happened to make me believe it too." He said. "Someone is manipulating the dead."

"It could be one of your void mages." She said dismissively.

"I know who and where they are. It is not them." Saito said. "Hypothetically speaking, if it were him, how would we be able to stop him?"

"You would have to release me and my brothers, then perhaps you would stand a chance of winning." She said. "Of course, hypothetically speaking, if he were alive, it would be safe to have any help you could get."

"I see." Saito said thoughtfully. "Do you know where I can find your other two brothers? I can't speak to them yet."

"Only one resides in the world of your void mage." She said. "Find the highest peak in the world, and they will be there."

"That sounds too easy to be true." Saito said. "Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll talk to you soon."

She mildly bowed her head, then disappeared into the depths of the sea. A few moments later, Saito woke up. It was early in the morning and Louise was already prepared to depart for Germania. With his speed, he quickly got dressed, then ran downstairs to greet her.

"Good morning." She said as she fed Gabriel some porridge. "Ready to leave?"

"Yeah." Saito said. "Let's see what Albrecht was hiding."

They hopped on the two dragons that were laying on the ground near the door, strangely close to each other.

"Are you sure it's okay for us to ride on your backs?" Louise asked.

"I'm happy to help you and your mate." The white one said.

Louise rubbed her fur softly before both dragons stood up and began making their way towards the Germanian capital city.

In Sasha's cabin

Shion woke up very early in the morning. To make sure she didn't wake the others, she sat on the roof of Sasha's house. As she watched the sun rise, she looked into the woods, where she saw a chilling image.

What looked like the dark, blurry silhouette of a man was watching the cabin from several hundred yards away. It remained completely still, but Shion knew that it was very much alive. Keeping her eyes on it the whole time, she quickly made her way back into the cabin. She immediately shook Sasha and Mariel awake.

"What? What's wrong?" Mariel asked.

Shion said nothing, instead choosing to point directly at the thing she was seeing. It took a moment for Mariel's eyes to stop being blurry from her sleep. However, as soon as they came into focus, she grabbed her sword which she kept on her belt.

"Little sister, wake up!" She whispered into Sasha's ear.

Sasha slowly got up and noticed that Mariel was holding her weapon. Instinctively, Sasha grabbed her axe.

"What's wrong, elder sister?" She asked.

"What is that thing?" Mariel asked, pointing at the figure. "Can you not feel the magic coming from it?"

"I can." Sasha said. "It's...familiar."

As the three of them stood with their weapons drawn, Alex woke up. He had been having nightmares all night, so he was quite alert when he work up. He his three companions watching something in the woods with weapons drawn, which made him immediately pull his dagger from his belt.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We...don't know." Mariel replied.

Sasha quickly grabbed a small knife that she kept holstered in her boot. After a split second of aiming, she threw it at the figure with immense speed and accuracy. However, as soon as the knife made contact with it, it vanished into thin air.

"It's not safe for Saito's family to be here." Sasha said.

"You're right, little sister." Mariel said. "But we have no fast way of getting them back to their world."

"Whatever that thing is, it's probably not after them." Alex said, putting his dagger back in its sheath. "I say we hide them in one of the cities on the lake."

"You're right." Shion said. "We cannot allow Saito to lose his family again."

In Saito's 'soul'

"Gandalfr." A deep, booming voice said.

The great beast opened its eyes and looked upwards.

"What is it?"

"You feel it?" The voice asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

"And the boy?" The voice asked.

"He is not ready to face it." Gandalfr replied.

"I told you this day would come." The voice said. "For 6000 years we have been sealed within hosts who are incapable. 6000 years wasted. If we had continued to destroy the humans, this would not have happened."

"Shut up. Our purpose was to destroy that country. Besides, this boy will not disappoint." Gandalfr said, rather irritated.

"You who does not even remember your mother should not speak of what she desired." The voice retorted.

"We have nothing left to lean on but this young man." Gandalfr said, raising his voice slightly. "He will dispose of that thing, even if we could not."

"I hope for everyone's sake that you're right, brother." The voice said.

Gandalfr seemed to think for a little while. After he had processed his thoughts, he sighed and closed his eyes. With one last sentence, he drifted back into sleep.

"Trust me on this one...Mjöðvitnir."

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! Yes, I am writing at 1:40 am, but never mind that. Tell me what you thought of the this chapter, the one before, or anything about the story in general. I love reading what you guys have to say, so keep the opinions coming! Thanks for reading guys! Catch you next time!